Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Bumper Review - Vintage Vogue and The Hurly Burly Show

Well hello there and happy Wednesday to you all! After yesterday's post mainly focusing on the dress I wore on Sunday I want to share with you what I actually did that day, because it was a pretty fabulous day :)

First up:

Vintage Vogue

This is the first time that I have visited Vintage Vogue, Essex's Vintage fashion fair, and I was a little hesitant to drive 50 minutes to a fair that for all I knew could have not been to my taste at all, but after being given several leaflets by favourite sellers of mine at previous fairs I decided to give it a go.

Anyone for hats...?

Upon arriving at the fair I was a little underwhelmed by the venue, a school hall, but as I began to wander about I soon forgot about the room and focused on the goodies on sale. There was a really nice variety of vintage yummies on offer, obviously the emphasis was on clothing with the majority of stalls being stuffed with rails of dresses, but there was also a good selection of accessories and one stall with just dress patterns (be still my beating heart!).

Doing what I do best!

We might be here a while...

I'm always cautious when a fair says it will contain fashions from "the 1920s to the 80s" as sometimes this means rows and rows of rather naff looking 80s cast offs, fine for some but not really my style, and I'm a bit loath to pay £4.50 to look at room full of clothes I'm not really interested in! Vintage Vogue, however, does exactly what it says on the tin, and there was a healthy selection of fashions from every era promised. In fact I think the majority of items seemed to be 1950s day dresses, so of course I was quite contented :)

Beautiful matched pattern skirt

The people were fabulous, everyone was more than happy to give you a history of what they were selling and they were also open to haggling which is always nice. I like it when people want to help you find an item that is perfect for you without pushing you too hard to buy, and will also help you out if they can see you've fallen in love with something and are a few pounds short :)

I <3 Monogramming

Another brilliant touch at Vintage Vogue was their fabulous retro DJ, who played a great selection of vintage tunes throughout the day, really adding to the mood. I must admit that me and my Sweetheart may have had a little bop as we were browsing :)

Spring time stripes

In terms of pricing I would say that the majority of items were aimed at a medium budget. You were looking at spending at least £50 an average for a simple 1950s day dress, for more elaborate pieces of evening wear about £80. I must admit that that was a little expensive for my taste as I wasn't looking for anything specific, so I couldn't be tempted to spend big bucks, but after some pretty hard core rummaging (and I do mean hard core, I like to do these things properly!) I found a few little gems to take home for a reasonable price.

How adorable is this tie? :)

All in all I really enjoyed the Vintage Vogue Fair, the people were great, the music was a nice touch and there was a great variety of clothing on offer. I would say that there wasn't much on offer for those on a small budget, but there were treasures to be found if you took the time to look.

Outside the fair, how I wish this was my ride!

Next:

The Hurly Burly Show

Now I have been in love with the idea of burlesque for a little while - mostly through my love of Dita Von Teese, fueled when my Sweetheart bought me her book for Christmas - but I had never seen an actual burlesque show before, so you could say I was a tad excited about seeing Hurly Burly! It markets itself as a "Contemporary Burlesque Show", so I was a bit worried that this might mean a slightly chavvy approach to burlesque, but I shouldn't have worried!

Hurly Burly!

The show is very classy with just enough sauciness to tease the audience without becoming cheap. The show's star and creator, Miss Polly Rae, has a great presence, gliding like a golden age screen goddess across the stage, warming up the audience with a wink and a cheeky smile. She also both talks to the audience and sings, something that's quite unusual for a burlesque performer, and that makes her seem all the more confident and glamorous, she owns the stage. It was also brilliant to see the amount of women in the audience, this is not a show made for men to drool over the half naked girls, it is a celebration of beauty and the female form and everything it means to be a woman :)

The fabulous Miss Polly Rae

The show is a great mix of the fun (including a UV costumed strip to "Let's get physical" involving exercise balls), the smooth (mostly brought by the silky voice of featured singer Spencer Day), the crazy (most memorably the fabulous Kitty Bang Bang breathing fire on pointe!) and the classic (Miss Polly Rae's beautiful fan dance and classic strip).

The Hurly Burly Girls

If you are in or around London and have a taste for Burlesque I would definitely recommend seeing the Hurly Burly Show, it's great fun and I think it's would make a brilliant girl's trip out. Brush up your shimmy and your bump and grind and get down to the Garrick!

I hope you enjoyed my Sunday adventures, have any of the rest of you been having a fabulous time recently? I do hope so :)

I do think that vintage fairs are worth a visit, you get such a huge variety of really gorgeous items, it's worth it for the browse factor alone. But you do have to be careful about the prices, because there will always be some people who will try and overcharge you if they can! But like I said, if you're willing to take the time you will generally always strike gold :) If you like vintage (which I know you do!) you'll get a kick out of a vintage fair even if you don't end up buying anything!

About Me

Welcome to the world of "The Little Red Squirrel"! A year ago I gave up buying new clothes in favour of making my own or buying second hand. Join me as I continue in my adventures to build a handmade, home-sewn, vintage life.